What Are You Hungry For? - Pastor Naeem Fazal

[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast if you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward. [00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy. [00:00:56] Good morning. [00:00:58] Hello. Hello. [00:01:00] Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Glad you guys are here. Welcome, guys. Welcome to our series. You know what? I missed you guys last week. I know you guys miss me. [00:01:11] Yeah, sure. Okay. This crew right here, maybe, possibly. But I paid them to say all this stuff. I'm joking. I don't. But. Hey, glad you guys are here. So here's the thing. Last week, I was. I was actually in D.C. yes, I was in D.C. you know, just trying to help with this whole government shutdown. Let's figure this out. People trying to get the sides to talk. Not really. Actually, I was trying to just not get deported, but. No, no, no, no. Just joking. [00:01:35] Joking. Because I'm Pakistani anyways. I'm an immigrant, anywho. But I was actually at a Pakistani church, which is kind of cool. I was at a Pakistani church, and I got to speak in Urdu and preach in Urdu. So that was really fascinating. And I realized it was so hard to do as well. And because Pakistanis, most of them are actually Muslims, they're not Christians. And so this was very kind of a cool treat. But what's really interesting about that is that it reminded me how there's so many expressions of the Christian church. There's so many expressions of Christianity and so different. [00:02:05] Different congregations and, man, people are just beautiful. I mean, it just seems like. Like there are so many people in different nations preaching, worshiping God in so many different languages and. Awesome. But what unites us is this idea of, like, this idea of being blessings or. That's why we're doing the series called God Bless you. Because the series is really about you and I owning the fact that we were created to be a blessing. We're created to be a blessing. And it reminded me again as I was there in preaching to this Pakistani congregation, because I had people come up to me afterwards, just, you know, just overwhelmed with the idea of, like, man, I don't know if I just believe that God was done with me. In fact, one guy came up in one of our sessions, and he was like, man, I just. I just. [00:02:53] I didn't want to get up this morning. In fact, I got up this morning and I just thought to myself, man, no one really needs me. I'm just useless. I don't. I don't know if I need to live anymore. [00:03:02] And, you know, and I was doing. The message was about the book that I wrote. Tomorrow needs you. And reminding people that, man, no tomorrow, someone else's. Tomorrow needs you. And so I just am reminded again today why we're doing a series like this. Because when you think of blessings, we all like, oh, I just want to be in a place to get a blessing. But the truth is, the reality is that God's inviting us to something so much more. He's inviting us to become a blessing. And so I want to convince you, you were born to be a blessing in someone's life. You were born for that, and you have to own that. And so if you walked in today going, I don't know, I think God's done with me. I'm not sure if I'm that person. I'm just trying to survive here. I think you can do more than just survive in this world, especially with God. He's got a plan for your life, and he wants you to step into it. And so I love the teachings of Jesus. Why? Because all his teachings invite us to not do more things, but become more of who we were created to be. And in this series, we're going through one of his sermons, and it's the Sermon on the Mount. And he starts off by saying. Talking about all things that are what a blessed person does, or blessed are those people who do such and such and such. And so a couple of weeks ago, we started a series, and we were talking, talking through that. And so this morning, I just want to continue along, because if you followed along with us, it's like, it's. It's been really interesting because God invites us to. [00:04:26] To go through a process, and today he's asking us to become more of a certain kind of people, which is really interesting because he said, you know, before we start off talking about how blessed are those people who are. Who Mourn, who weep. [00:04:41] And we talked about that. We talked about how blessed are the meek. Last week we talked about that. And Pastor Christian did a great job talking about how meekness is not weakness. And so today, what's really interesting is that he talks about something that I think we can all relate to. Okay, so let's jump in and let's read this together. Okay. It's on the back screen here. He says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what? [00:05:05] Righteousness. For they will be. [00:05:08] Hunger and thirst for righteousness, and they will be filled. Now, if you. Now, this is the NIV translation. Now, if you ever notice that there's a phrase like, what's the phrase? That right after the reference of a Bible scripture, it's because of the translation. Maybe sometimes it's a paraphrase translation, but there are different kinds. So just so you know, if you don't know. [00:05:29] So there's another kind that'll be used a lot in Mosaic. It's the nlt. Now, if you've got your app, you can follow along as well. So let me just read the same verse to you in the nlt. And it reads like this. It says this. It says, God blesses those who hunger and thirst for what? [00:05:44] Justice. Interesting. You switch the word. It seems like the righteousness and justice are two different words. And he says, for they will be satisfied, they'll be filled, they'll be satisfied. So what's interesting about this is in the Scriptures, this word justice and righteousness, at least in this context, when Jesus was talking, it's the same. [00:06:02] Now what? Wow, it's really interesting. Why is it the same? And we'll talk about that. Because when we think of righteousness, you think of being perfect. [00:06:11] Blessed are those people who hunger and thirst for always doing the right thing. [00:06:15] Do you know someone who always does the right thing? [00:06:18] I don't know. [00:06:20] Do you know anybody who thinks they're perfect? Anybody? [00:06:23] Yes. So with Jesus, what is he talking about? So we're going to dive into that. But first, let me address the. Let me address the fact that Jesus says, I want you to be a person. [00:06:33] A blessed person is someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. How many of you have ever been hungry before? Anybody been hungry before? Okay, now I'm not about hungry for your next meal. I'm talking about just hungry for food. [00:06:47] Now, now. I mean, now. I mean, I live in a place where I don't have to worry about food. But back. Back in the day, when I was growing up in Kuwait, I went through a war, and during the war, during the occupation, we ran out of food. And that's when, you know, you don't. You know, you just. [00:07:05] You're hungry for food. Not the next meal, just food in general. Water in general. It's a whole different thing. So Jesus is talking to a people group. I want you to know. He's not talking to us who live in, you know, Charlotte. He's talking to people who, in fact, need food, who don't have enough to survive at some point. And so he's like, I want you to understand. I want you to crave for something, that it's not more than a want, it's a need. I want you to become people who are dependent on, in a sense, dependent on, crave, in one sense, righteousness. I want you to crave this. [00:07:43] Have you ever had a craving for something? [00:07:46] You're like, I want this in my life right now. [00:07:50] What's funny is how many of you would say you're coffee people. Anybody? Any coffee people. Make some noise. Any coffee people? Okay, okay, awesome. Okay. How many of you? You are not necessarily coffee people. You are like me. You are creamer people. Anybody? [00:08:02] Anybody? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm serious. Like, I have friends in my life who are like, super bougie, snotty, whatever about their coffee. You know what I'm saying? They're like, oh, this isn't great. This is the best coffee in Charlotte. This is the best coffee in Charlotte. It's $17. But anyways, it's the best coffee insurance. Like, Starbucks coffee. It's too burnt. I'm like, okay, okay, whatever. Okay, what I'm saying. [00:08:27] What I'm saying to you is that. Oh, my gosh, it's so interesting how we now crave it, right? Because who doesn't want a coffee in the morning? I mean, like, my wife tells me this. She's like. She tells other people, if they're hanging out with me in the morning, they're like, hey, do not talk to him. Because before he's had coffee. Cause I'm not alive before coffee. I have it several times. Jesus has tried to talk to me. I'm like, no, I can't do it right now. Can't do it right now. I gotta go wake up. I need coffee. [00:08:56] So what's interesting is, and I don't know if you remember this, I remember when I first started drinking coffee, it was not in my 20s. I started drinking coffee till I was, I don't know, mid-30s. Like, I didn't really drink coffee a lot. And I started a church, and then you guys caused me to start drinking coffee. [00:09:17] Coffee. [00:09:18] And now I just do it and I crave it and I need it. And I thought to myself, have I made a habit? Have I created a habit that has developed a craving? So has my habits created the craving that I now have for coffee? Does that make sense? Have I done that? Is it the habit I get up in the morning, I do this, I do this, I do this. Could it be possible that there's a habit, you know, that you and I can create, and that habit creates a craving in our lives? You're like, you just condition yourself to that. Could Jesus be saying, I want you to know that blessed people are those people who create a habit that creates a craving. See, some of us, we can have habits, but today I think, and I believe that we need to create a craving in our lives. God's saying, I bless people, create cravings in our life for righteousness. Now we'll get to that definition of the word. But what does it mean to create a craving? Because I believe that having cravings, right, Having cravings, right. They conform us. I mean, you just have a craving, okay? But creating. Creating cravings do what they have the power to do. What they have power to transform us. They do. If you intentionally create a habit, it could be anything to do anything which is intentional and it's positive. It will pay dividends. It will just do that. And so today I wonder if God's saying, hey, I want you to create a craving for righteousness. Because God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for righteousness, for they will be filled. So let's jump in. Let's figure out, what does this mean? [00:10:57] What does it look like to understand what he's talking about when he talks about righteousness? Righteousness. The word righteousness is interesting. I thought about the word in Urdu, actually, because that's my native language. So anybody want to learn some Urdu? Anybody? Today? Yeah. Okay. Can you say rasta bazi? [00:11:16] Rasta bazi. Say it again. [00:11:18] Rastabazi. Rasta bazi. Rasta bazi is the word for righteousness. Now, rastabadi, if you translate it, it literally means Rasta, actually means direction. It's like rasta bazi means to walk in the same direction the entire time is to walk in a particular direction and don't wear off. It's like, this is right. It's like the right way. This is what you do. There's no U turns. There's no, there's no getting off the exit. No, you're going straight. That's all you're doing. [00:11:44] It's Rasta bazi. Now. I thought it was interesting because I love words and how they can, you know, they can cause you to understand the heart of the matter even more. So the word in Hebrew, the word is tzedakah. Now, Sadaqah actually means this uprightness or integrity in life to be. To walk in a sense of integrity and want integrity for other people. [00:12:10] So what you realize is that when you take these translations and when you take the words in Hebrew, in Greek, in Urdu, you discover that righteousness is not necessarily a word that religion uses. It's not a word to say, hey, hey, are you right with Jesus? Have you prayed to Jesus? Are you going to heaven? It's not those kinds of things. It's actually deeper than that. Righteousness means three things. Number one, it means to be right, to do right by yourself. Like, doing right by yourself. Like, what does that mean? It means being honest. Like, are you honest with yourself? It starts right there. Being righteous, like hunger and thirst. Jesus is saying, people who are a blessing, people who are a blessing, people who own being a blessing, they start by understanding that they have to be right and honest with themselves. See, so often we get. We struggle with this. You know, we struggle with, like, being honest because, I don't know, in church sometimes you rather act holy than be honest, you know, Right? Like, come on now, Harry. We'd rather be. You have a fought. You did fight in the car, but on the way here. You're good, you're good. We're just pretending it didn't happen. Whatever, whatever. You send the text, oh, I'm good, I'm good. [00:13:24] Why? Because sometimes the, the we think of righteousness. We think I just gotta be holy. Well, it's, it's the, the flip. The flip is, is that if you and I, if you and I just commit to be honest, God will make us holy. But if you and I, you know, just try to be holy or pretend to be holy, we're never honest. And so God wants us to live a life that's of honesty. And honesty requires us to look at ourselves in the mirror. Look at ourselves in the mirror. Have you ever been in a conversation? And I was recently in one. Okay. And I don't know what you do. Tell me, what do you do here? And it's usually with guys. Okay? It's usually with guys. It's never with ladies. Okay. I don't know what it Is. But I was talking to this guy and I realized his sweater is inside out. [00:14:11] His sweater is inside out. What do you do, friends? What do you do, Right? It all depends how well you know him, right? It all depends because you don't want to insult the person. You're like, okay, well hey, you know, if it's your boy, you're like, hey, I know it's a party. I'm warning you, your tag is out there. Wow, I did not know you wore that size. I mean, like, what, what's going on, buddy? And see, sometimes I go, did you look at yourself in the mirror? Did that happen? Did it happen? Have you ever had that thought looking at someone? You're like, did you even, you know, some people were like, I have given up. You know what I'm saying? They look like they've given up. What's hard though is this, right? The hard thing is to look in the mirror. [00:14:50] Looking in the mirror is tough. [00:14:52] Especially if you have Those, what, those 3x and the 5x, those are from Satan, you know what I'm saying? [00:15:01] I mean, you want to have low self esteem? You look at those things. I've looked at those, I've had those encounters and I'm like, there's stuff growing on my nose. [00:15:11] I'm like, what is happening here? What's going on? Looking in the mirror is so tough. [00:15:17] It's so tough. Why? It's a reflection of what we look like. And that's why Jesus is saying here, the blessed are those people are people who hunger and thirst. They create a habit that becomes a craving for righteousness. And what that means is they look at themselves in the mirror and spiritually, what that means is they look, they allow the scriptures and they allow the voice of God to be the mirror in their life. [00:15:44] You look at the teachings of Jesus and you allow the scriptures and his words to basically point out what's going on in your life. Because scripture says that the word of God is sharper than a two edged sword. It cuts between bone and marrow. What that means is it gets into the details. It goes through the 5X and says, hey, what about this? And some of us, we don't want to compare our lives. We don't want to look into the scriptures because it shows us our condition of who we are. [00:16:13] But Jesus says, blessed are those people who have the courage to actually allow themselves to be judged, you know, gracefully by the scriptures, by the, they're just honest. You don't have to be perfect when in the mirror. You just have to be honest. Why? Because the mirror tells us everything that we're not. [00:16:32] We're not, we're not this or we're not, or what's going on. [00:16:36] It's okay. But we have a habit of being honest with ourselves. Because if you're not honest with yourself, you're rarely honest with other people. Because the first thing we do is we lie to ourselves. It's not that bad. It's not a big deal. And then we just make up the other thing for other people. So righteousness starts off with one being honest with yourself. What's going on inside, guys? Are you really addicted? Or is it just like one of those things you do? Is it something that you really need to talk to someone about? [00:17:09] Let's be honest. Are you willing to be honest? Can you make a habit of being honest? The other thing, this word righteousness, obviously, is this idea of having integrity. Having integrity. So the word righteousness here, when Jesus says hunger and thirst for righteousness, he's talking about having integrity. This word, like in the Hebrew, right, is tzedakah, which means to have, like, this alignment, wholeness of integrity. Which is really interesting word, okay? Because when you think of integrity, you think, oh, moral character. But not necessarily. Some of the people that have. They're doing terrible things morally, they're doing immoral things. They have integrity. You know what integrity is? Integrity is being the same inside and what out. You could be a terrible person, but you're like, hey, I'm a terrible person. We all know, okay? You, my friend, have integrity. Why? Because you have integrity. You're whole. So, like, I was thinking about the things in this world have integrity. And these days I'm like, I'm not even sure because the rise of AI people. I don't even know who's doing what. What image is right. Whose voice is correct? I don't even know. I don't even know. And I thought of one thing that I think that in life, that will always have integrity. [00:18:26] Okay? No, not a banana. But you know what always has integrity? [00:18:31] Fruit. [00:18:33] Fruit always has integrity. Because what are the chances, friends, of me opening this banana up and finding something else? [00:18:41] You're like, there's no way why we have integrity. There's always. There's always right. Could you imagine if I. Here, I have another banana over here. Let me see this. This banana has been altered. Modified genetically. [00:18:53] Okay, so what if I were to open this banana up and find a hot dog? [00:19:01] You're like, this never. This would never happen. Name. This would never happen. I Tell you what, this is a great illustration, though, for some of us. [00:19:08] Some of us who pretend to be bananas, but inside we're, like, processed. I don't even know what. [00:19:15] We don't even know what. Have you ever met someone, you're like, oh, my gosh, they're amazing, amazing. And then you meet them. People say, don't meet your heroes. Right? Or something like that. Right? You realize why? Because we do this fruit, apparently does not. [00:19:29] But we have this. Some of you guys are like, how much time did it take you to put this together? Don't worry about it. Don't worry about. [00:19:37] Took me a minute. [00:19:39] Wasn't that ridiculous, though? You know what? As ridiculous as this is, as odd it might seem, is how odd it seems to the people around us. The closest around us, they get closer and we get to peel off some of our layers. And then they find that we're not the same people as we pretend to be. [00:20:00] And it's so tough because if you're in any leadership of any kind, it's tough because you have to have a Persona, a shell of who you are in a sense. But the inside could be whatever. As long as the shell looks good, it's all good. But the people closest to you always find out. [00:20:17] Always find out. And so the word here, when it comes to righteousness, Jesus is saying, blessed are those people who are the same inside and out. They are blessed. They are. They're. They're not hot dog bananas. [00:20:33] They are the same. And for some of us, the tension is to not be the same with our loved ones, with our kids. But the thing is, is if you start from. If you have a craving, from being honest, you will move to integrity. [00:20:47] But you can't go the other way. You can't have integrity without being honest. So you have to start being honest. And then you move towards integrity and integrity again. Friends, it does not mean that you're perfect. You're not the perfect mom, you're not the perfect dad, you're not the perfect friend. You're not the perfect Christian. What you are is. You're just the same. [00:21:04] Hey, this is the struggles here, and this is the same. Now there's context of how much I will share. But I am what I am. This is who I am. And what's sad to me is sometimes I don't even know why, because I didn't grow up Christian, so I didn't grow up with church. But people would compliment me in a weird way. The weird way was they would say stuff like, this, man you're the same same, you know, on stage and at home. And I'm like, and what's the difference? Why are we supposed to be different? [00:21:34] Are we supposed to? By the way, that's super hard to do. [00:21:37] Keep up the facade. I mean, that's tough. So if you think I'm lame now, I'm lame at home and I'm lame at church. Okay? I'm just lame. I'm what? I have what? I have integrity, people. Okay, lamest, But I have integrity. [00:21:52] Just be the same. Just be the same. Because there's something about that we don't understand. You see, when. Especially in the Hebrew text. In the Hebrew text, when you become. [00:22:01] When you have integrity, there's a sense of. It's connected to a peace that God wants to give you. So if you've heard, if you've read any of the scriptures, you'll hear a word called shalom. Shalom is a Hebrew word that is not just peace, all good, but it's a sense of harmony where no one is attacking you. [00:22:22] Like shalom means that you are in a state of mind where your thoughts are not attacking you. Have your thoughts ever attacked you? Yeah, yeah. People attacked you. Yes. There's a sense where you can actually become just at rest, not at war with yourself, not at war with anyone else. He said, that's what I want to give you. Shalom. That happens when everything is lined up up and you're like, hey, this is who I am. Good or bad, this is who I am. I'm moving towards getting better, but this is who I am. And the only way, friends, the only way that you can be at peace is and to get stopped and to stop your. Your thoughts to attack you is by having integrity and just being whole. And when you're whole, it all kind of lines up and God's spirit can actually flow in you and through you. [00:23:17] And lastly, this word, this word righteousness means this. It means justice. Clearly, it said it. It means justice. You see, when you think of justice, you think of obviously something that's outward. And yes, it is. It is. He's saying, I want people. People are a blessing to the world who stand up for justice, who want equality for other people, who look at other people and if they're being bullied, stand up for them and are with them and support them and do whatever. It's standing up for the minority. It's standing up for the people who are marginalized. It's standing up for that. It's wanting right for the world. It's not just wanting right for yourself or for your loved ones, but also for the world. It's saying, God, I pray you do this. I pray you, you repay this tyrant back or I pay, I repay you to redeem these people. It's saying, God, I look around the world and I am distraught how the world is broken. [00:24:18] If you have ever had that thought, if you thought. If you've just stopped and go, God, it's worse. Why are you. We're so broken. We're so messed up. We're so. What's going on with us? When you have that thought, guess what you're doing? You're craving something. What are you craving? You're craving righteousness. And God says, God blesses those people who crave righteousness, who want justice for others, who want to be, who want right for others as well. In Micah or in the Old Testament, it's very interesting because if you use Micah, there's a phrase in there, if you link it to righteousness, the word here that we're talking about, it kind of lines up really well. It's same the Micah 6, 8. It says, he has shown you. You know, the prophet is saying to people, he says, God has shown you, oh, mortals, what is good. Like what, what. What is right. Like what. What God really wants. Here's what he wants. He says, God requires of you. This is what he wants. To act what, justly. [00:25:19] To act justly. You know, like, hey. Like, yeah, be a walking poster board for justice, he says, and love mercy. [00:25:28] Love mercy, and then walk humbly. All these are integrated in righteousness, this idea of integrity, justice and honesty. He says, God's shown you, here's how you need to walk. Here's. Here's how you need to live. Live this kind of way. And then he says, hey, and guess what? If you do this, if you do this, he will satisfy you. He'll satisfy you. So how does God satisfy us? He satisfies us. Because you will see the fruit, the faithfulness of God and the fruit of our labor. That's how he will do it. He'll show us. He'll show us his faithfulness. [00:26:12] How does he do that? Well, it's complicated. Here's why. Because you got to walk with and wrestle with God with your thoughts. So there's a psalm in the Scriptures, and this guy, he's wrestling. And most of the psalms are from David, but this psalm is actually attributed to another person. [00:26:34] And this guy is kind of thinking through what's going on in his life. And maybe you can Relate. Because I don't know if you've ever had this thought, why do I even bother? Have you ever had that? [00:26:45] Why do I even bother? [00:26:47] Why do I even. Because my emotional energy, my relational. [00:26:53] Why do my. [00:26:54] They don't even listen to my words. No one listens. Like, why do I even bother? I think some of us, you're like, why do I do what is right? [00:27:05] Why am I the honest person? I'll tell you what, Let me just play the game. Let me just play the game. I'll just play the game. I'll just do the things. So to just get what I want. [00:27:14] And here what we find is God says, hey, I want you to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Because I'll tell you what, you will be fulfilled. That means I will make it right. I will do the things. [00:27:25] So here his thoughts are interesting. He says, Here he says, truly, God is good to Israel. [00:27:32] He says, and his hearts are pure. He says, truly, God's good to people, you know, who do good, who do right. [00:27:39] But as for me, he says, as for me, I almost. What, lost my footing? He said, I almost slipped. I almost slipped like my feet were slipping and I was almost gone. [00:27:54] What's he talking about? He says, here's where I got. [00:27:57] I almost fell into this pit. I think some of you might be in this pit. He said, my pit was this. He says, because I envied. I envied the proud. [00:28:05] I envied the proud. And I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives, and their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don't have any troubles like other people. [00:28:16] They're not plagued with problems like everyone else. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever looked on Instagram, you're like, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? [00:28:27] These people have no. [00:28:29] Look at their lives. Look at their houses, look at their things, look at their stuff. Look at her. Look what's going on here. Like, they. They seem like they live like they have no troubles. And here I am trying to do the right thing. Here I am trying to obey God. Here I'm trying to say the right thing and be the right thing and be a person. And I don't even know. Why do I even bother? God, why do I even bother? I'm. I'm the. I'm the guy at work standing up for what is right and not doing this. I'm the one being honest with our employees and honest with our. Our clients. And why. Why do I need to do this? [00:29:00] He says, listen, listen. I almost slipped. I almost slipped because I started envying them how I did it. And then he says, here, next passage, he says. He says, I realized something. I realized that my heart was what it was, what it was bitter. I realized. I look at myself in the mirror and I thought, oh, my gosh, what's wrong? [00:29:19] Sounds bitter. I was all torn up inside. The reason why I was torn up is I was also foolish and ignorant. And then he says, God, I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Like, he's writing his journal down. You know what I'm saying? He's saying, I don't know what I was doing. He says, and yet I still belong to you. Like, I can act a fool. I can do all kinds of things. I can go a different direction with my mouth, with my words for a season. And yet still, still, still I belong to who? I belong to you. Still you hold my right hand. [00:29:55] Still you guide me with your counsel, and you lead me to a glorious destiny. Even though I seem like sometimes I'm going the wrong direction, even though it seems like my heart's, like, just full of just. I just don't know. I want to give up. I just want to give up. You're still there. You're still there. And as he's processing this, he ends this psalm with this. He says, who. Whom. Whom have I. [00:30:20] Whom have I in heaven but yout? And he was like, what am I thinking? He said, who am I in heaven but yout? Like, in this world? I mean, he says, I desire the word crave. I crave you more than what, anything else on earth. I just. I just do. [00:30:37] And I. My heart may fail and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of. Of my heart. He is what, mine forever. He's like, I'm just going to go back to this. I'm just going to go back to craving for righteousness. Because I know that you fill me, that your faithfulness. And here we see the process of him moving towards realizing God is still faithful. [00:31:02] And then he's also. He's also friends. He's also a God who makes sure. [00:31:09] He makes sure that we will see the fruit of our labor, the things that you are sowing right now, the right things you are sowing right now. Even though you think there's no fruit. It's not happening. They just burned fields. This is not happening. It all comes to play. God is not gonna waste anything. And I just want you to know that for some of you, you're like, you know what? Well, this person got away. [00:31:35] Have you ever had that thought? These people are getting away with all kinds of things. They're getting away. They're getting away. [00:31:40] Yeah. God saying, hey, let me just tell you, my justice stands forever. In fact, in Galatians 6, he says, don't be misled. Don't be misled. He says, what? You cannot mock what the justice of God. He says, just don't. If you think they're getting away. They're not getting away with anything. [00:32:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but, but, but look at. Look what they're doing. Well, look, they get more power, they get more riches, they get more money, they get more billions. What's happening here? Well, they're doing this. They're getting promotion, whatever. No, he says, hey, do not be misled. Like, don't, don't, don't, don't. Hey, don't be mistaken. No, no, no, no, no. You cannot mock God's justice. You can't do it. He says, why? He says, you will always. [00:32:28] You will always harvest what you, what, plant. You'll always harvest. People always harvest what you plant. [00:32:38] And then he says, so sow. And right now, for some of you, this is what God's saying. So don't get tired. Don't get tired of doing what is right, what is good. Don't get tired of doing. Man, I just. Why can't it be their turn? [00:32:56] Have you ever thought that? Why do I have to be. [00:33:01] It's like, hey, don't get tired of it. Don't get tired of it. Why? Why? Because at the right. At the right. And I don't know where the right time is. I don't know if it's here or later. I don't know. But in the right time, we'll see. [00:33:20] We'll reap a harvest of blessings. If what? That's the word. If we what? Do what? If we. [00:33:32] Some of you guys are like, I've already given up. Okay, okay. If you what? [00:33:38] Don't give up. Could you tell your soul that this morning? Don't give up. Don't give up doing the right thing. Create the habit of craving to do the right thing by yourself, by other people, and by God. Don't give up, because you will be filled. So where are you today? [00:33:57] Do you need to be filled up? Do you need to ask God for righteousness? Have you always thought that I want to pray for you? I want to pray. In fact, let's pray together. Let's close our eyes for a second, and then we Just talk to you for a second. Yeah. [00:34:12] God, we just thank you so much for this time, God. For some of us, we are. We find ourselves in a place where we're like, I don't know. I don't know. I just feel like. [00:34:22] Just feel like I just keep doing the right things, but I'm not getting anything. I'm not getting anything in return for it. [00:34:29] God, I just pray that you would remind us, God, that you are the God who cannot be mocked. You're the God who always redeems. You're the God who always does right by us. And, God, sometimes we don't see it here on Earth. [00:34:45] But, God, we know that one day. One day, God, that you will make everything right. [00:34:52] God, everything right. In fact, it says, God, that one day that you will wipe every tear from every eye. And there will be no death. There will be no mourning. So, God, I pray that the hope that we have today would be a certainty for us this morning, that we would allow ourselves to surrender to a God who does right by us. And, God, I thank you that righteousness is not attained by us, God, that we cannot make ourselves right before you. You have made us right before God. Jesus, thank you so much for that, God. For some of us today, maybe that's our prayer, that we would be people who would say, jesus, I give you my life. [00:35:35] Maybe that's the first right thing we need to do today. [00:35:38] And maybe you've never done it. [00:35:41] Maybe you're here and you're like, you know, I don't think I've ever done that. Today is the day to say, jesus, I give you my life. [00:35:47] I give you my imperfect self. I give you who I am. I'm being honest. [00:35:55] I want to have integrity. [00:35:57] And I'm just telling you who I am. [00:36:00] And for some of us, we just need to say Jesus today. Would you forgive me? Would you fill me, God? Would you be you. Would you be more in my life, God, I pray that you'd give us a hunger for that, God that would give us more of you in our life, God, that you would be the biggest thing in our life, that you would be magnified in our life, in our hearts and our minds. [00:36:26] So, God, as we stand in worship, we just pray to God that you would lead us in response to that. God. [00:36:32] God, be magnified, God. [00:36:36] Yes. [00:36:39] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.